PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Wind and Altimeter Setting
View Single Post
Old 25th Apr 2018, 21:46
  #3 (permalink)  
eckhard
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: France
Age: 69
Posts: 1,143
Received 4 Likes on 3 Posts
In the northern hemisphere, port drift means you’re flying towards higher pressure, so the altimeter will under-read and your true altitude will be higher than indicated. Starboard drift means you’re flying towards low pressure so the altimeter will over-read which could be dangerous.

In the Southern Hemisphere it’s the other way around.

The reason is to do with the direction of air circulation around a pressure centre.

In the northern hemisphere, the circulation is anti-clockwise around a low and clockwise around a high.
Vice-versa in the Southern Hemisphere.

If you draw a few diagrams you’ll soon get the idea.
eckhard is offline